MANILA, Philippines — Former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo (Guo Hua Ping) appeared to be ready for the cases that will be filed against her even before they were filed.
At the Senate hearing on Guo's escape and Philippine offshore gaming operators on Tuesday, September 17, Guo said that she left the country around the first week of July, but could not remember the exact date of her departure.
Related Stories
While she was outside the country, Guo was able to file a dubious counter-affidavit as a response to the human trafficking charges against her.
“Na-sign ko po 'yung last page po bago ako umalis,” Guo said. (I signed the last page before I left.)
However, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said that there was no case filed against her at the time of her escape. Guo’s legal team also said that there was no counter-affidavit by the time she left, as they only prepared it in August.
Lawyer Ray Co, a member of Guo’s legal team, was one of the people who prepared Guo’s counter-affidavit.
“We sent the draft of the counter affidavit last August 14 to her secretary, Ms. Cath Salazar,” Co said.
Co also reiterated that Guo’s legal team did not know that she was outside of the country.
“Personal conclusion ko dito is first, nagsinungaling si Atty. Galicia, kasi hindi ito pinirmahan sa harap ni Atty. Galicia, definitely nagsinungaling siya and dapat siya kasuhan rin ng [Department of Justice],” Gatchalian said.
(My personal conclusion is that first, Atty. Galicia lied, because she did not sign this in front of him, he definitely lied and the Department of Justice should file a case against him.)
Gatchalian also surmised that Guo’s lawyers knew that she left the country because she was able to sign it in advance.
Lawyer Elmer Galicia, the lawyer who notarized Guo’s counter-affidavit, was tight-lipped. Galicia was previously insistent that Guo was present when he notarized the counter-affidavit.